A Comprehensive Study on Memory of Mass Deaths and Theatrical Imagination

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370284
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Yamanashi Prefectural University
• Principal Investigator: ITO Yukari 山梨県立大学, 国際政策学部, 准教授 (80223197)
• Research Collaborator: KUSUHARA Tomoko
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 演劇 / 大量死 / 記憶 / 歴史 / トラウマ / ホロコースト / 東日本大震災

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our study aims to investigate the potential of theatre as the archive of memory against the threat of mass deaths through the analysis of dramas written in English depicting mass deaths. We are now living in the age of colossal loss caused by either genocide or natural disasters; furthermore we the Japanese have traumatic memories of a vast number of victims of World War II and the Great East Japan Earthquake. Therefore it is our utmost duty as Japanese scholars to reconsider the social, culturral and ethical role of theatre in representing and memorizing the colossal loss. In addition, dramas that deal with mass deaths caused by natural disasters have been less explored than those about genocide have. That has led to our unique study of a wide variety of dramas written in English as well as in Japanese. Through the presentations and papers we have revealed the potential of theatrical imagination against the threat of mass deaths.

Free Research Field

現代アメリカ演劇